Sarah S. Baker

“ Harty's recovery was slow and tedious. He was very weak, and little inclined to talk. He seemed most contented when Rosa was singing to him some pretty hymn, and Lucy was sitting by him on the bed smoothing his hair, or fanning him gently.
His large eyes looked sunken and thoughtful, and his manner, once boisterous, was mild and gentle.
"Don't move for me again this morning, dear Lucy," he said one day; "your little feet must be very tired with running up and down stairs. When I get well I shall have to wait on you all the rest of my life to repay you for this kindness." ”

“ Johanson had said to the pastor, who was now in his full confidence. They knew each other as the Alf and Lars of the olden time. They knew each other now as forgiven sinners, each striving in his own way to work for the glory of the Master's kingdom. Each felt that he was indebted to the other. The stable-boy's words, "The duties are the same whether you make the promises or not," had lingered in the mind of the wanderer in the midst of the lowest depths of sin, and had brought him home at last to try to make the promises firmly resolved to keep them. ”

“ Mrs. Ray did fall into a quiet sleep, the more sound from the night of wakefulness and pain she had just passed. When she awoke, she heard unusual sounds in the kitchen below, and if she could have peeped down the stair-way, a pleasant scene would have met her eyes. A cheerful fire roared up the wide chimney. Daph, revived by the welcome heat, was ironing away at the great table, with real heartiness, while little Mary, at her side, tried to move her slender arms in the same energetic manner. ”

“ The princess sank wearily back in her chair when the fair lady had gone out with Nono. On her mild face there was a shadow that betokened something more than weariness. That little boy she had trusted so implicitly while she looked into his clear eyes, what if he should prove an impostor? She had had her own bitter experience from the falsehoods of the apparently needy. "No! Nono is not an impostor, I am sure," she said to herself. "Little Decima, no doubt, ought to be taken care of immediately." A slight smile came over her thoughtful face as she recalled the unusual name. ”

“ But no Lucy came. Rosa and Harty came towards her, and wore astonished to see her face wot with tears.
"What is the matter?" asked Rosa: "have you hurt yourself?"
"No!" sobbed Lucy; "but Mrs. Maxwell says I must not go to church."
"Pooh! is that all?" said Harty; "why, you are not always so fond of church-going!"
This was true, for Lucy often stayed away from church when Mrs. Maxwell did not oblige her to go; but on this particular morning she wanted to go with her sister, whom she was beginning to love very dearly. ”

“ Johanson had taken a modest place at the chancel railing; but even there he was an outcast, for it was plain that no one was willing to kneel beside him.
The pastor's wife was bowed low with new food for prayer and thanksgiving. Little Elsa moved quickly from her mother's side up the aisle, and to the astonishment and almost horror of the congregation she knelt by Johanson, her little head not appearing above the railing; but she held fast to his left hand. He felt the tender familiar grasp, and it was to him like the Good Shepherd greeting him through one of His little ones. ”

“ Alma put her arm round her father's neck and whispered, "Dear papa, if Frans comes home—when he comes home, I do really mean to be more kind to him than ever before; but he—"
"No 'buts,' Alma," said the father. "However far wrong your brother has gone, he is still your brother, your only brother, and it will be your duty to love him, and pray for him, and watch over him with tender affection. He has no mother. You must be to him all that a good sister can be." ”

“ Lucy looked half-frightened, and answered, "I don't understand you. I should have to die first;" and she shuddered at the thought.
"No; you may have Christ with you always, without dying, but you cannot see Him. He will take care of you, and you can speak to Him, and He will do what you ask Him. If you remember that He loves you and is ever at your side, when you come to die it will seem like opening your eyes to see the kind Friend who has been so long with you."
Lucy's eyes filled with tears, and in her heart she wished that she loved the Saviour as Rosa did. ”

“ Daph saw all this, if “Passenger” did not, and with her white teeth in full sight she moved round the table, in the position of waiter, which she had assumed to keep her darlings in view, and to have a care that their new friends, in their abundant kindness, did not feed them too freely with sailor’s fare.
That was a happy day to the children—that first day on board the “Martha Jane,”—and the captain prophesied that Charlie would “stand the sea like an old salt,” and Louise would be as much at home on it as the “Martha Jane” herself. ”

“ As for Tora, sitting in a low chair in the midst of her possessions, she went rattling over the cobble-stones, if not more proud at least more happy of heart than a conqueror of old at the head of a Roman triumph. She had reached the goal towards which she had long been striving. She was now an independent worker, with a profession by which she could earn an honourable living. She was a teacher, "a teacher of the little school"—that is to say, of the school for little children. ”

“ Rosa and Lucy were quite ready, when Harty came running into the room, his hair in its usual tumbled state, and his coat dusty and torn. "Oh! I have had such a chase," he said: "one of my 'bantys' got out, and I had to jump over the fence and chase him all over the orchard before I could catch him. And see here, where I tore my coat putting him back in the coop. Why! you are all ready: is it church-time?"
"Yes, indeed," answered Lucy; "and I hate to be late, people all look at you so."
"I hate to be late, too," said Harty; "I do like to watch the people come in."
"Harty! Harty!" ”

“ No good ever comes of going from the truth. That's my notion!"
Jan stood up very straight as he finished, and sitting as Karin was, he seemed to her in every way high above her.
"You are right, Jan," she answered sorrowfully. "I suppose I must do as you say. I did so want him to be really my own, just like my little Gustaf."
"Your little Gustaf, our little Gustaf, is in a good place, and I hope Nono will be there too sometime," said Jan.
"Not Nono in heaven yet!" said Karin, pressing the dark baby to her breast. "I cannot spare him, and I don't believe God will take him." ”

“ A gay-coloured parallelogram stared out from the grass beside him; for there, covered with a patchwork quilt, lay, in a great basket, the baby, the little girl, the pride of the household, fast asleep. So the curate could not be said to be exactly idle, though he was taking a delicious morning rest. His wife meanwhile—a large-hearted, practical woman—was making all things comfortable in the house, with the help of her efficient aide-de-camp, an orphan girl snatched from the influences of the poorhouse. ”

“ So this is the explanation of the change that had passed over you, and had given me so much pain!—my little Alma, who loved so dearly to give, and who has lately been so hard and cold that the very idea of an appeal from a poor family seemed to close her heart and stiffen her face into determined opposition. You cannot be a princess, dear, and do some great thing. I am afraid there was more pride than holy love in your plan. You should not think of yourself when you want to do good, but of your heavenly Master and his suffering brothers. ”

“ Before they reached the school-house, Lucy was quite sure that Rosa's coming would make her unhappy. Julia Staples had been talking with little thought, but she had roused evil feelings in Lucy's mind which were strangers there. She was not naturally envious, but now her heart burned at the idea that her sister would always be praised, and go out with her father, while she would be left at home with no one to care for her. Children do not think enough of the harm they may do each other by idle conversation. ”

“ With no human brother, we say; but there was one woman whose life interpenetrated his, if they did not in all things come heart to heart. Her presence gave him a sense of sunshine and quiet happiness that was the greatest joy of which his nature was capable.
Merry, impulsive, devoted, self-sacrificing by nature, the whole existence of the pastor's wife was pervaded by a Christian life that exalted her naturally lovely traits, and made her shortcomings the source of a sweet, childlike penitence that was almost as lovely and attractive as her virtues. ”

“ Julia might have encouraged Lucy in feeling kindly towards her expected sister, and have made her look forward to the meeting with pleasure; but she filled her mind with wicked, envious thoughts.
Do my young friends ever think whether they have roused wrong feelings in their companions? Two children can hardly talk together for half an hour without having some influence over each other, for good or for evil. The wrong thought that you have planted in the heart of a child may strengthen, and lead her to do some very wicked thing when you have forgotten the conversation. ”

“ Pietro, broken down by hardship and illness, and thin and worn, seemed older than he really was. Pelle and Pietro were soon good friends. It was a precious time for Frans when he translated the conversation between these two veterans from life's battles—the one defeated, wounded, near his death; the other humble, yet triumphant, victorious, and soon to be summoned to the court of his King for a more than abundant reward.
"I am not fit to be the father of a boy like Nono," said Pietro one day—"not fit to be his father." ”

“ Rosa was startled for a moment, but she answered calmly, "But Lucy has been vaccinated, Betsy; she would not take the small-pox even if the man really had it."
"I don't believe nothin' at all in vaxnation," said Betsy; "it don't stand to reason. I telled Miss Lucy she'd ketched the small-pox, and I believe she has."
"Poor child!" said Rosa; and she ran hastily up stairs. Harty did not follow, for although he laughed at Lucy's timidity, he was a bit of a coward about some things himself; and old Betsy's words had alarmed him not a little. ”

“ In the corner of the handkerchief a large K had been embroidered by unskilful hands. Karin knew it as one of her own early trophies, that had been given to her mother in pride when she had received it as a reward for skill shown in the sewing-class at school. This little remembrance of her had been treasured and prized while she was living in selfish forgetfulness of the poor old woman far away. ”